Best Grilled Baby Squid Recipes

Grilled Baby Squid image

Yield makes 4 to 6 servings

Number Of Ingredients 4

1 pound cleaned baby squid or 1 1/2 pounds whole baby squid
Coarse salt to taste
About 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice or sherry vinegar, or to taste

Steps:

Start a charcoal or wood fire or preheat a gas grill; the fire should be quite hot (on a gas grill, as hot as you can get it) and the rack no more than 4 inches from the heat source and preferably less. Or preheat a heavy pan over high heat (and turn on an exhaust fan if you have one) for about 5 minutes.
If you need to clean the squid, pull off the head and tentacles and separate them by cutting just behind the head; save the tentacles and discard the head. Rinse out the inside of the bodies and dry well.
Sprinkle the squid with coarse salt and toss them lightly with a tablespoon or two of olive oil. If you are grilling, skewer the squid. Grill or pan-grill the squid quickly, about 1 minute per side; they should brown nicely but remain moist inside.
Put the squid on a plate. Drizzle with a little more olive oil and sprinkle with lemon juice or vinegar and a bit more salt. Serve immediately.
Grilled Baby Squid, Japanese Style
Here the grill is requisite, because the soy sauce coating would burn on a griddle: After cleaning the squid, marinate them briefly in a mixture of 1/4 cup soy sauce and 2 tablespoons mirin (or 1 tablespoon honey mixed with 1 tablespoon white wine). Grill and garnish with toasted sesame seeds (page 596). (Black sesame seeds are more commonly used here, and they look nice against the white squid, so if you can find them, by all means use them. Look in Japanese, Chinese, or Indian stores.)

Brick Grilled Baby Squid with Tamarind-Mint Dressing image

Provided by Bobby Flay

Categories appetizer

Time 30m

Yield 4 servings

Number Of Ingredients 13

1 1/2 pounds squid bodies, cleaned
Peanut oil
Salt and freshly ground white pepper
2 large bricks wrapped twice in aluminum foil
Tamarind-Mint Dressing, recipe follows
Chopped fresh mint
3 tablespoons tamarind paste
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
3 tablespoons chopped fresh mint leaves
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup peanut oil

Steps:

Heat grill to high heat. Brush squid with oil on both sides and season with salt and white pepper. Place the squid on the grill close together and lay the bricks over the squid. Grill for 2 to 3 minutes on 1 side, remove bricks, turn the squid over and place the bricks back on the squid and continue grilling for 2 to 3 minutes. Remove the squid from the grill, place on a platter and immediately drizzle with the Tamarind-Mint Dressing. Garnish with chopped mint.
Combine tamarind, vinegar, orange juice, mint, mustard and salt and pepper in a blender and blend until smooth. Adjust seasoning.